


Merry Kissmas

by Bucephalus



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alcohol, Attempt at Humor, Christmas Party, Embarrassment, F/F, F/M, First Kiss, Fluff and Humor, Gay Disaster Keith (Voltron), M/M, Mistletoe, Misunderstandings, Mutual Pining, Post-season 7
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-26
Updated: 2018-12-26
Packaged: 2019-09-27 13:28:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,740
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17162828
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bucephalus/pseuds/Bucephalus
Summary: The garrison throws a Christmas party to bring everyone together.Pidge and Hunk use the green lion’s invisibility cloaking technology on some mistletoe.





	Merry Kissmas

**Author's Note:**

> Hi guys! I’ve been lurking around this fandom since the release of season 6 and haven’t had the courage to join in yet. I have never written fan fiction before. But I love sheith so much, they’ve inspired me to write again for the first time in over 7 years. I wrote this in a few hours today so please excuse any grammar/spelling mistakes. Hope you guys enjoy!

Keith’s never really enjoyed these kinds of things. There’s too many people, and he’s not one for a lot of socializing. The garrison is organizing a Christmas party on the Atlas. Following Sendak’s invasion of Earth, the recovery and rebuilding efforts were exhausting and often discouraging.

Truthfully, it was more difficult than winning the fight against Sendak. At least, then, the goal was easy. Defeat the Galra and reclaim Earth. Now, it was directly facing the ugly aftermath. Clean up from the battle was hard, the realization of the body count even more so. 

Keith and the paladins were busy all the time. Working on the efforts to unify the people, reconnecting families that had been torn apart, and constructing tactics to protect Earth from inevitable future attacks from the Galra. There was virtually no down time. Keith’s only chance to rest had been the couple days in the hospital after waking up from a coma. If you can even call recovering from a coma restful. 

So, saying morale was low was probably an understatement. The garrison had proposed the party as a way to give everyone a chance to breathe, relax, and maybe have some fun. It was also a way to try to meld everyone together. The introduction of other alien species on Earth was not exactly smooth. Considering Earth’s one experience with alien life had been the invasion of the Galra, it was expected that humans would be weary and scared of other aliens. Especially, with some of those aliens being the BOM and other Galra citizens that wanted to escape the domination of the empire.

Shiro announces the event at the end of a morning briefing. Predictably, the other paladins are starry eyed over the idea. He knows he should be suspicious when Pidge leans over and whispers something to Hunk that makes him widen his eyes and then smile mischievously. He nods to her. 

“Me and Hunk want to help with decorating.” Pidge volunteers innocently. 

Shiro looks skeptical but accepts it. Keith raises an eyebrow. He’s never known Pidge would be one excited for decorating. He expected if anyone, it would be Allura who would organize something like that. He glances over at her and resists rolling his eyes. She and Lance are sitting sickeningly close to each other for people who haven’t been brave enough to admit feelings for each other. Allura’s got an expression on her face of pure excitement. Being an Altea, and naive to Earth customs, she’s ecstatic to join in on the festivities. 

“Lance was telling me the most interesting things about Earth’s Christmas rituals! We could make the dress code ugly sweaters!” Lance smiles sappy and fond at her exclamation. Keith thinks it’s too encouraging and fights showing exactly what he thinks of the suggestion on his face.

Shiro half smiles to cover a grimace and rubs the back of his neck. Keith can at least be glad his best friend shares his thoughts on the idea. 

“If that’s what you guys want. Just make sure everything is appropriate. We have to remember this is to bring everyone together and bond aliens and humans as common allies. We don’t want to risk anything that could be insensitive.” Keith tries to subtly frown and make eyes at Shiro. He feels betrayed. He knows shiro sees him but steadfastly ignores it with a smirk. Keith momentarily forgets why he’s feeling betrayed when Shiro has a face like that. It’s utterly distracting. 

The room nods their agreements. Keith has to shake himself out of his ogling; he isn’t too positive that everyone is taking this sentiment to heart though. With the way Hunk and Pidge are side eyeing each other and smiling, he knows to expect some sort of trouble. Allura already looks lost in thought. Probably already planning the ugliest sweater she can think of.

They all get up to leave and continue on their day. Keith sighs internally, knowing he’s going to have to participate somehow. He’s never really enjoyed Christmas. Growing up it was just a reminder of his lack of a family and home to belong to. He doesn’t have the same fondness and nostalgia for the holiday like everyone else. To be honest though, he does want to celebrate and have fun with his friends. He just doesn’t know how to express that. This feels like first time he’s had a chance to spend Christmas with a real family. But he feels his insecurities rising in him, since he also never experienced Christmas traditions himself. What should he even help with? He doesn’t know where to start.

His discomfort must show somehow, despite his best efforts. Shiro puts a hand on his shoulder to hold him back from leaving with everyone else.

“You okay?” There’s nothing but concern in his eyes. Keith laments how easy it is for them to read each other. 

He sighs and looks down contemplating how much he should let on to Shiro. Looking up, he shrugs. 

“It’s nothing really. I’ve just never had a reason to celebrate Christmas before.” Keith can tell Shiro understands by the softness that settles over his face. 

Shiro accepts the things unsaid behind that statement and gives him a small smile. He squeezes his shoulder and the way he’s gazing at Keith makes his head spin a little, and his heart jump up his throat. 

Thankfully, that seems to be the one emotion Shiro is oblivious to. His overwhelming attraction to his best friend. 

“Well don’t worry about it too much. It’s probably going to be like those alien diplomatic parties we were Invited to as paladins of Voltron. A bunch of people together eating and making small talk.” Shiro tries to soothe him.

This time Keith does roll his eyes, but he smiles gratefully. “You know that’s exactly why I’m worried. You know I don’t like to make small talk with large crowds of people.” 

Shiro laughs and his hand is still on Keith’s shoulder. Keith feels like he could probably combust with happiness at the prolonged physical contact. “I think watching your terrible attempts at trying to make small talk is going to be the most entertaining part of the night.” Shiro teases him. 

Keith blushes and can’t help the laugh that escapes him and pushes at Shiro’s shoulder. Shiro doesn’t let his hand dislodge from Keith’s shoulder though. Instead, to Keith’s pleasure, he gives him another squeeze. They look at each fondly and just laugh. He thinks to himself the party might not be so bad if he and Shiro get to spend some time together that doesn’t involve working. 

 

*********

 

Keith remembers why he doesn’t like parties just a few minutes after arriving. He doesn’t understand the bother with all the string lights, the overly cheesy music, and how forcefully cheery everyone is. To add insult to injury, Allura had followed through with the ugly sweater dress code. 

He frowned and picked at the itchy sweater he was wearing. Reluctantly, he had participated and worn a fan made sweater of Kosmo with a Santa hat. He was unsure if it actually counted as ugly, maybe a little tacky, but Kosmo was the best boy in the universe so it was only natural he kinda liked the sweater. 

Currently, he stands off to the side just observing everyone. Shiro had walked with him to the party, but it wasn’t long before other people were approaching wanting to meet Shiro with stars in their eyes. Which, he can’t blame them for. Shiro is easily the most handsome person in the room. Soon enough, he and Shiro had separated into different groups. He should’ve known better than to expect he’d be able to hang out with Shiro all night.

 

He’s trying, and failing, not to mope,when Allura and Lance join him. He has to stifle a laugh. She’s gone all out and made a sweater herself. It looks almost like the time she let the mice do her hair. It’s a mess of what looks like every single cliche Christmas imagery. The colors are clashing and there are even working string lights embedded in the fabric. If this was a contest, she would win. Lance, in contrast, wore a tastefully labeled “Wanna Deck My Balls” with a candy cane and some Christmas ornaments arranged in a way to be suggestive. He studies it and stares down Lance hoping to get how unimpressed he is across his face. Lance doesn’t look the least bit shameful and just shrugs his shoulders with a smirk. 

“At last it’s more creative than yours, Mullet.” He says like he’s won. 

Allura just smiles approvingly. “I think it’s sweet you’re wearing your pet. It shows off your soft and sentimental side.”

Keith crosses his arms and frowns. “He’s not just a ‘pet’, and I’m not sentimental.” He wonders how they can possibly judge him for what he’s wearing after showing up in their atrocities, but whatever.

He stays huddled in a group with them and tries to join the conversation. His efforts prove futile though and becomes the third wheel. Sighing, he lets his eyes wander back to Shiro. It’s easy to do, Shiro is a magnet to his senses. Allura laughs quietly to herself and elbows Lance with exaggerated flair. 

“I think someone’s hungry.” She winks at Lance.

“What?” He looks confused.

Her eyes go to Keith’s and then over to Shiro pointedly. Keith flushes when he realizes he’s been caught staring longer than he realizes.

Lance looks back and forth between them for several long moments, slowly working it out in his head. 

“Oh!” He grins slyly. “Allura it’s called being ‘thirsty’. Keith’s thirsting for Shiro.”

“I’m not thirsty for Shiro.” He crosses his arms and broods unconvincingly. He knows he’s lying, and he knows they know he’s lying. But it’s a reflex to protect himself and deny it.

Instead of acknowledging them more, he looks at Shiro again. This time there’s a man with him. He’s obviously flirting. His body is angled towards him and there’s not a lot of space between them. The guy places his hand on Shiro’s shoulder and says something that makes him laugh.

Keith’s stomach sours and his mood darkens more. Unfortunately, Allura and Lance are still watching him, and they’re giggling to each other about it.

“Whatever, I need a drink.” And Keith leaves them doubling over themselves with unrestrained laughter over his embarrassment. 

 

*********

The party, to Keith’s relief, serves a variety of alien liquor. Earth alcohol has no effect on him. And after watching several people throw themselves at Shiro throughout the night, he wants to be at least a little drunk. He has to cope with his pathetic jealous emotions somehow. 

To his dismay, he also finds himself approached several times from people who are fans. He guesses he should’ve expected it as the Black Paladin and leader of Voltron. But he misses his anonymity. Trying to socialize and be open with strangers is not one of his strengths. 

He spends a couple hours this way. Drinking his way through it the whole time. It’s not bad after awhile. The alcohol probably helps. He feels tingly and relaxed and lulls himself into a false sense of security.

It’s not long though, until the professional atmosphere has been watered down with the help of all the alcohol. People start laughing louder and freer. 

Keith eventually makes it back over to his friends sitting at a table near the back of the room. They’ve all obviously been drinking too, including Pidge who doesn’t look the least bit ashamed. They’re sharing a tray of cookies that are shaped like people and decorated as them. Keith sits and picks up a cookie that looks like Shiro. He studies it and laughs. Whoever designed the Shiro cookies, exaggerated the size of his arms and pecs. 

He holds it up and looks across the room where the real Shiro is, and compares him to the cookie. He’s almost disappointed in himself, because he has to take back what he thought about the exaggerated muscles. Shiro’s wearing an illegally tight sweater accenting his muscles. The proportions of the cookie are right. He should’ve been able to recognize that even in cookie form, with the amount of practice he’s had checking out his friend.

He sighs dramatically as he takes a bite out of Shiro.

“Heh. I bet Keith wishes his mouth were biting the real thing.” Lance tries to tease him.

“Yeah.” Keith sighs again, mournfully. Unlucky for Lance, Keith is too drunk beyond caring to be embarrassed. 

Lance looks a little shocked that he fessed up instead of his usual denial. The rest of them laugh. Hunk and Pidge start whispering to each other suspiciously. Keith feels alarm bells go off in his head and he stares at them imploringly. They just smirk at him, while Pidge pulls out a remote controller. Dread settles in the pit of his stomach as he waits to see what terrible thing they’ve come up with. He doesn’t trust them.

“Hey Lance, I think you should look above you.” Pidge sings innocently.

They all look up together in time to see one of Pidge’s drone let down a cloaked shield. Dangling from it is a clump of mistletoe. 

Keith let’s relief flood over him when he realizes they’re pranking Lance instead of him. 

Lance blushes straight up to his ears and his facade of being a smooth talker with the ladies goes up in smoke. He suddenly looks bashful and goes silent. Allura cocks her head and raises an eyebrow. She looks back at the rest of them while they laugh, confused.

“I’m not sure I understand this Earth custom. Can you explain for me?” 

Pidge pushes her glasses up the bridge of her nose. “This is a plant called mistletoe. When two people are caught underneath it, they have to kiss.”

Allura joins Lance with a blush at this. She brings a fist up to her mouth, and daintily clears her throat.

“Well I guess if that’s the case, then I have no choice.” 

Lance looks like he’s either going to explode with happiness or shock. He can’t tell which, probably both. Allura leans in and they share the shyest kiss he’s ever seen.

He snorts and decides it’s time to leave before Pidge gets anymore ideas and uses it on him. He’s too drunk to remember it’s attached to a drone and that means it can be moved to surprise unsuspecting victims. 

********

Keith gets another drink and somehow ends up between Acxa and Veronica. He doesn’t know how he keeps ending up in situations as the third wheel. Even though he’s between them, they’re still mostly talking to each other over him. He’s lost in thought watching Shiro again and drinking more, when Veronica laughs in his direction.

“What is it?” He feels suddenly self conscious with the way she’s eying him. 

She answers by smiling and looking above his head. Keith closes his eyes briefly, knowing what he’s about to see above him. Sure enough, he’s not surprised when he looks up and sees the mistletoe drone above him. He’s silent as he looks from the drone to across the room where Hunk and Pidge are watching and falling over themselves with amusement. 

He looks back and forth between Veronica and Acxa, not sure which person he’s supposed to kiss anyway. He wonders if he can get away with not kissing either one of them. Keith is too slow and they decide for him. Veronica and Acxa both lean in and kiss him either side of his cheeks. His face is burning, but it’s better than the alternative of kissing one of them on the mouth.

He barely has time to recover before Veronica pushes Keith off to the side, and dips Acxa into a kiss. Some of the aliens in their vicinity start cheering and lifting their cups in celebration.

Keith looks up and catches Shiro’s gaze on him. They smile at each other and Shiro looks amused. Keith shrugs his shoulders at him, before making his way over to him.

“Hey Keith, I see you’ve been having fun.” Shiro smiles at him as he stumbles a little when he approaches. He can’t tell if  
Shiro is teasing him for being drunk or getting caught under the mistletoe. 

He rolls his eyes. “I guess tonight hasn’t been too bad, now that I’m with you.” He admits.

Shiro’s cheeks go a little pink at Keith’s admission, but he looks pleased and smiles wider. 

 

*********

They’ve fallen into easy conversation together, until they hear loud cheering across the room. So wrapped up in talking to each other, they failed to notice the room had progressively dissolved its professional atmosphere and gotten a little more rowdy with all the liquor involved. He muses how long it’s going to take before the party spirals out of control.

Curious, they make their way across the room to where a crowd has gathered. His eyebrows shoot up when he sees someone turned one of the tables into a makeshift beer pong setup. To his utter bewilderment, the MFEs have challenged the BOM to a game. 

“Is that your mom and Kolivan?” Shiro is as shocked Keith. 

Somehow, his mother and Kolivan have entered a game of beer pong versus Rizavi and Leifsdottir. Knowing they don’t want to miss this, they join the MFE side of the table. He stands next to James and Kinkade to watch.

“So, I’m curious, how did this start?” Shiro asks them. 

James shows his displeasure at the whole thing by groaning. “It was all Rizavi’s idea. Kolivan was interested in earth drinking games and she bet him he would lose.”

Keith smirks. Kolivan tries to put on a front of being collected and wise, but really he’s competitive to a fault. He wouldn’t be able to resist a challenge. And it only makes sense his mother would join him. She always has his back.

They stand there for awhile watching the game. Keith’s impressed. He feels a little smug and proud for how well their first time playing is going. The game is neck and neck. He’s so distracted by the game he’s forgotten to be on the lookout for the drone again. 

“Uh, Keith?” Shiro looks flustered as he places his hand on Keith’s shoulder. Keith looks up and sighs. Of course, Pidge would target him while he’s with Shiro. He’s about to turn and try to be brave enough to go through kissing Shiro right there in front of everyone, when a different hand grabs his other shoulder and turns him.

Keith glances away from the mistletoe and towards the other hand in time to see it’s James. He leans in and kisses Keith softly. To his own surprise, he closes his eyes and kisses him back. It’s actually nice. James’ lips are soft and he smells good. 

When James pulls back they’re both red and shy.

“Thank you.” Keith says dumbly. He doesn’t really know what else to say. He never would have entertained the idea of someone like James kissing him. Even if was because of a stupid Christmas game.

“You’re welcome?” James doesn’t seem to know what to say either. They all fall into an awkward silence. After a few seconds, James awkwardly waves bye and walks off somewhere with Ryan. 

Keith finally decides to brave looking up at Shiro, who isn’t looking at him. He’s got an indecipherable expression on his face and  
Keith feels concern rise in him. 

“Shiro, are you okay?” 

Shiro snaps out of whatever he’s thinking about and looks at him. His smile is a little stilted. 

“Oh it’s nothing. I’m fine Keith.” Keith is too in tune with him to know he’s lying. It’s all over his body language. But he doesn’t push it. He’ll let shiro tell him when he’s ready. Still he worries over what has upset Shiro. 

“I think I’m going to go grab some food and something to drink.” Shiro claps Keith lightly on the back and steps away, leaving him alone again. Keith glares at the floor and downs the rest of his drink.

 

*********

The night goes on. Humans and aliens drunk on liquor and each other. It’s a victory for the garrison. They’ve reached their goal on getting everyone to bond, even though it’s resulted in a huge mess. The pong table had gotten too intense and one of the Galra had slammed the ball towards the table too hard. Half the table of champagne had crashed. Glass and liquor was everywhere, and was half heartedly cleaned up. The place reeked strongly of alcohol. Someone had knocked the Voltron Christmas tree over. The mistletoe had been making the rounds. Several couples were just now freely making out without a care. 

Keith had continued bouncing around from different groups. He kept trying to catch back up to Shiro unsuccessfully. Ever since the beer pong table, he had proven to be elusive. If he didn’t know any better, he’d almost say Shiro was avoiding him.

Keith’s lost count of how many drinks he’s had. He’s nursing the one in his hand while standing with his mom and Romelle. To his amusement, Romelle is unsubtly flirting with his mother. His mom doesn’t let on that she’s aware, but he can tell she’s as amused as he is. Romelle is even younger than him. 

Once again, he looks up and sees Shiro in a group with Iverson and Slav. He can see Shiro’s obvious annoyance while Slav is full body ranting, all of his arms gesturing wildly. He smiles to himself. Shiro is so cute when he’s frustrated. He likes the furrow of his brows and the look of his eyes. Like an annoyed puppy. A very big puppy. 

Keith thinks Shiro needs some rescuing and who’s better at rescuing Shiro than himself? Pleased with his reasoning, he starts marching over to their group. He’s thinking of what excuse he’s going to use to lure Shiro away, when he catches Pidge’s gaze across the room. 

She smirks, looking wicked while pulling out the remote control. Keith’s stomach drops. He suddenly realizes just how drunk Pidge is as he figures out what she has planned.

Suddenly, the room seems narrow and everything happens in slow motion. He whips his head from Pidge over to Shiro in time to see the drones invisibility shield uncloak above his and Slav’s head. He tries to walk faster; if he doesn’t get there in time, he won’t be able to save Shiro. Or Slav from Shiro. 

Slav and Iverson notice before Shiro. Iverson looks supremely uncomfortable and wastes no time making his escape from potential disaster. Keith is too drunk to see that Slav looks like he’s about to go on a rant about what percentage of realities end in doom and death, if he and Shiro kiss under the mistletoe. Keith has tunnel vision on his goal to jump in and whisk Shiro away to his rescue. 

He reaches them as Shiro has glanced up and turned white with terror. Lucky for his friend, Keith is here to save him. He doesn’t think, just acts. He’d do anything for Shiro. So he grabs Shiro by the shoulder and leans in and placed a kiss to the corner of his mouth. He barely has time to savor how soft he is and how good he smells, before Shiro is pulling away startled. 

They stand there gaping at each other, blushing and Keith’s hands still fisted in Shiro’s sweater. 

“Keith?” Shiro eventually asks.

“I...uh..” Keith says intelligently. Suddenly he feels like he may have made a miscalculation.  
But he doesn’t have time to ponder this, because Shiro cups one of his cheeks and leans him and kisses him back. 

Keith feels like his heart is going to pound out of his chest and that his stomach is going to fall out of his butt. He trembles a little as Shiro places his Altean hand on his waist. It’s so big and can almost grip his whole waist, and he’s weak in the knees at the realization. Keith moves a hand up to Shiro’s hair as he opens his mouth inviting his tongue in. Shiro makes a delicious little moan and pulls their bodies flush.

Shiro’s mouth is pleasantly wet and tastes like the alcohol he’s been drinking. His lips are soft against his and the tongue in his mouth gets braver exploring. The kiss has quickly turned indecent for public consumption. They’re practically devouring each other. Keith doesn’t care.  
Can’t find a reason to be ashamed. He’s actually forgotten they even have an audience. His world has narrowed down to the wonderful feeling of Shiro’s mouth and body all over him. 

He comes back to himself when he hears someone wolf whistling and other people pointedly clearing their throat. Their lips break apart, but they remain touching everywhere else.

“Wow. Where did that come from?” Keith is dazed, but in a good way. Their faces are still only a couple inches apart.

“You’re the one who started it.” Shiro smirks.

“I was saving you!”

“Saving me?” Shiro looks confused.

“Yeah, uh, I know you didn’t want to have to kiss Slav.”

At that, Shiro closes his eyes and rests his forehead against Keith’s. His shoulders are shaking with silent laughter.

“What??” Keith doesn’t understand why he’s being laughed at. He did him a favor! He saved him! 

Shiro opens his eyes and looks into his eyes. He’s still laughing, but leans down to kiss Keith again before answering.

“There was absolutely….no way, I would’ve let that happen. Even without your intervention.”

Keith somehow blushes even harder. He looks down and the floor and lets out a soft “oh”. 

He can’t find the bravery yet to look back up at Shiro, and feels like this whole experience has done wonders at sobering him back up.

“So,...I kissed you for nothing?” Keith finally looks back up at Shiro.

Shiro frowns. “Uh, well it can be for nothing if you want, but….I liked it.” Shiro looks away now; Keith feels better knowing he’s not the only one embarrassed.

“Me too”. Keith breathes out before he can second guess himself. 

At the admission, Shiro leans down and kisses him again. They’re both smiling into it. This time it’s sweeter and a little shorter.

Shiro leans away and laughs quietly again.

“ I still can’t believe you kissed me so Slav wouldn’t.” Keith pouts and looks away. 

“I’m never going to hear the end of this am I?” 

“Aw, you look so cute when you’re embarrassed.” Shiro whispers and kisses his cheek. “And no, you aren’t.”  
Keith shoves him away playfully, but isn’t too bothered by his teasing. They lean in to kiss again, but are interrupted again by smug, exaggerated coughing. 

“You’re welcome.” Pidge says to Keith. She is way too pleased with herself.  
“To be honest, that wasn’t what I had planned for, but it was even better than I hoped for.” She adds failing at holding back her laughter.

Hunk rushes forward and pretends to push a person out of the way and he dips Pidge. “Oh Shiro, I’ll save you. As many times as it takes.” He says in a high pitched voice. Keith is insulted. He sounds nothing like that!

Pidge pretends to swoon and says, in an equally obnoxious low pitched voice. “Oh Keith! You’re my knight in shining armor!” Then they make exaggerated kissing noises at each other. 

Keith hides his face against Shiro’s pecs, trying to conceal his emotions. His humiliation fades away as he gets distracted by the fact that his face is touching a part of Shiro he’s only dreamed about. He smiles pleased with himself. Shiro wraps both hands around him and holds him closer. He rests his head on Keith’s as the others around them continue to laugh at their expense.

 

*********

 

Shiro and Keith don’t separate for the rest of the night, and shiro keeps a hand constantly on his waist. Eventually, the party starts to lose fuel as everyone starts to pass out on various surfaces. Shiro takes Keith by the hand, and they sneak away.

Keith has to admit to himself, as Shiro throws him on the bed and kisses him some more, maybe Christmas isn’t so bad after all.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you guys enjoyed this! Happy Holidays!


End file.
